Social Travel Network CouchSurfing Names Tony Espinoza as New CEO

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CouchSurfing, the world’s largest social travel network, announced today
that it appointed product guru Tony Espinoza as its new CEO. Espinoza
will build on the work of previous CEO and CouchSurfing
cofounder, Dan Hoffer, who will remain president of the company.

Having served as vice president at AOL and MTV Networks, and as chief
executive of several consumer internet startups, Espinoza brings
extensive experience in startup strategy and execution, including
product design and development, operations, and world-class talent
recruitment and development.

Matt Cohler, general partner at Benchmark Capital and CouchSurfing board
member said: “Tony’s product expertise and strategic leadership will be
instrumental to the CouchSurfing team as it further evolves its web user
experience and mobile product offerings.”

He added, “CouchSurfing has been an unsung hero in social travel and
discovery well before those terms were coined, and with Tony’s
leadership will be well equipped to realize its vision of connecting
people for inspiring offline experiences.”

Espinoza’s initial priorities include growing the engineering team
further to enhance CouchSurfing.com functionality, expanding site
features, and launching the first in a series of mobile apps for the
iPhone and Android.

“Tony is an invaluable addition to the team, both culturally and
strategically, because he shares our vision of CouchSurfing as
facilitator of a complete online, offline and mobile lifestyle for our
members,” said Dan Hoffer, CouchSurfing president. “Casey and I are
thrilled to welcome Tony as CEO.”

CouchSurfing is the world’s largest social travel network, connecting a
global community of travelers, adventure seekers and lifelong learners
dedicated to sharing their cultures, hospitality and authentic
experiences. Founded in 2004, and established in 2011 as a B
Corporation, CouchSurfing connects more than 4 million members in
86,000 cities via its website and mobile applications. The company,
which is headquartered in San Francisco, raised $7.6 million in a Series
A funding round from Benchmark Capital and Omidyar Network last year.
For more information and to join the CouchSurfing community, visit our
website CouchSurfing.com, and follow us on Facebook
and Twitter.